, 1887-04-29
A RUN Or THE BANK.
A Committee of Merchants Help a Da.
kota Banker Through n Panic.

A Committee of Merchants Help a Da-
kota Banker Through n Panic.
ran across q New York man the other
day who is largely interested In the bank
ing business of Dakota. The CONVERSE
ton drifted into q discussion Of the char
meter of the people out there. '"They may
be rough in their manners" said, he "and
uncouth in their way, but they stand by
a man when he Is in trouble and they
never forget a friend. / had an opportu-
nifty, " he went on, ''to test thist trait not
many years ago. The bank of the town
where I was staying found itself greatly
embarrassed one fine day by the failure Of
its principal correspondent in the terri
tory. This fact became known late in the
afternoon of the day that the news of the
failure reached the town. a run on the
bank the following morning was newt
able. To meet 1t there was but $4,000 in
the vaults. The remainder Of the assets
could not Immediately be turned into
ready cash.
''1ihe president of the bank was at his
wits end. He didn't know what to do.
Morning came and he decided to close the
bank. He was about to give the neces-
sary orders when In walked a committee
OF the leading merchants of the place.
They asked for an explanation of the sit
uation. 1t was given to them and like
wise an opportunity to look at the books.
A short examination sufficed to SHOW that
the bank was only temporarily cmbar-
raised. They said to the president, You
open the doors at 10 O'Clock as usual and
pay the dcpositors; Wen see you through
this thing But how IRE you going to do
ity' said the president. 1 nave but
$4,000 here Inc there are at least $50, 900
in deposits to be met. Half of that sum
is clamoring on the sidewalk now
Never mind, you open the bank and go
ahead said the committee and we will
see you through
"Well, the bank was opened and in
rushed the depositors and out went the
money. The pile of g~reenbacks on tho
cashiers desk grew smaller and smaller
and the crowd of depositors continued to
increase with every minute Still the pay
ing at the ~teller's window went on. On
the sidewalk the people who had drawn
their money were met by some of the
merchants who had promised to see the
bank through. What are you going to
do with your money! they would ask. Il
don't know came the answer. Suppose
you leave 1t with us; you know our house
and know that we are responsible. We
will give you our note and so much in
terest.' To the farmers for the majority
Of depositors were farmers) the money
III theI pOShcbS WhtEc Il uIGN uO hllSEGSb
vas Of little use; they preferred, of course,
the notes and were without difficulty per-
suaded to part with their money. AS
soon as they had received the money he
merchants would deposit 1t in the bank.
The same money was paid over the
counter three times or oftener in the
course of the day, and when the bank
closed at 8 O'Clock in the afternoon it had
in its vaults as much money as it had
started with in the morning, and with
$4,000 it had paid over $780, 900 of de-
posits, The promptness with which it
met the demands of the depositors stayed
the panic and the next morning there was
not the slightest indication of a run. This
is an absolutely true story" said my in
formant in conclusion, 'for l was myself
the president of that bank. Now can
you match hat by anything in the eqsti''
Cor. New York Tribune.